Nearly three-quarters of adult Americans in the United States use social media daily. It's no secret that tapping into social media handles is paramount to small business growth, but where do you start though?
With so many different social media venues and so much information, it can seem impossible and overwhelming to sort through what will help and what will hurt your presence.
We are here to help you out though. We have put together a list of simple social media marketing tactics for small businesses like yours.
Top Five Social Media Marketing Tactics for Small Businesses
If you want your business to grow, these are the simple steps to take to get you started.
These tips will help you grow your business in no time. Let’s take a look at how social media marketing can help you.
1. Learn SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Understanding the basics is the key to building your online presence. While you control your content on your social media account and website, it will not matter if your target audience never sees what you're posting.
That's where SEO comes into play. Try downloading an SEO plugin on your site and then optimizing it. Reading a beginner’s guide to SEO can help you understand the subtleties of the optimization process.
2. Have Clear Goals
Just like everything else with your business, setting goals is crucial to success. Know what you are trying to accomplish on social media.
Do you want to increase leads or sales or both?
Is your focus around increasing your following?
Are you using social media as the main focus of communication with customers?
Depending on your goals and your main reasons for utilizing social media will change how you communicate and post content.
Use Facebook lead ads to track your results. This will allow you to adjust your content or the way you market your small business. If the amount you are putting into ads versus your sales return isn’t showing results, it is time to change your course of action.
3. Visualization
Your eyes process images in 13 milliseconds - not having photos or videos will only hurt you on social media. People have short attention spans and you want to captivate them as quickly possible.
According to this study done, people only remember about 10% of what they hear - however when you use a relevant or engaging photo, it increases to 65%. Using imagery in social media is a must.
Visuals are a great way to boost your engagement and show off your products as well. For example, if you are a small restaurant - take photos of your special dishes and showcase them on your social handles. This not only shows your guests what you have to offer, but it will also catch their eye and implore them to explore more of your site.
4. Hire Help
It might seem like you have to do everything on your own but you shouldn’t. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs get burnt out quickly by trying to handle every aspect of the business.
Not only is there a huge learning curve, but also a ton of time spent on running it all -
Creating and update your website/social handles
Coming up with relevant and engaging content
Posting content on a weekly or daily basis
Communicating via social media with customers daily
Optimizing your website and posts
Marketing and running successful ads
These all add up and can take up a bunch of your time. Consider hiring a small digital marketing business and support local or consider hiring a freelancer from time to time to help you out. This will free you up so you can spend more time on running your small business.
5. Get People Talking
You have to be able to stand out above the noise. Putting who you are as a brand first is key. Try engaging your audience in conversation. For example, if you are a florist you might post a photo of a unique corsage or boutonniere around prom season, and attach a question to the image like, “Prom is here, what did your flowers look like?”
Use relevant and appropriate tags/hashtags - Follow them and engage with people that follow them.
These questions will generate interest among your followers and encourage more shares.
Moving Forward
These are just a few simple tactics that can help you start out as a small business owner. Understanding the world of social media is ever-changing. Keep up with current events and market trends to stay on top of the changes. Social media is fundamental to helping your small business grow and thrive.
If you would like help or a consultation with curating your site to be 100% optimized head over to our contact page!